Cased, AIGA's annual design competition

AIGA's annual design competition is now “Cased”

"Cased" is currently closed for entries. Check out our 2015 competition winners! The next round will be announced in early 2016. Follow #AIGAcased on Twitter for the latest.

This discerning competition (formerly known as “Justified”) demonstrates the collective success and impact of the design profession by celebrating the best in contemporary design through case studies. The “Cased” jury, chaired by Jennifer Kinon (OCD | The Original Champions of Design, New York), will review all entries based on concept, process, outcomes, impact, and aesthetics.

Get ready to show others why your design matters. Whether your project was for a global company, a national nonprofit, a local small business, or self-promotion, we want to hear from you! Designers who enter the strongest projects—those that are most
engaging and inspiring—will be invited to provide further detail to
advance to Round 2. Honorees will be showcased on AIGA.org and AIGA's social media platforms as well as affiliated with the prestigious AIGA Design Archives.

Project images and video

To give the jury the best representation of your project, upload more than one image. At least four images are recommended per submission; you may submit a maximum of 12 images. In addition to images of the final product/design, you are encouraged to upload “process,” prototype, or development images.

Images (minimum one; maximum 12)*If possible, provide photos or image documentation of relevant designs prior to your involvement (e.g., photo of competitors, “before” shot of website, old logo), including anything that you were not able to explain in the written format.

File names should include the project title and image number (001, 002,
003, etc.)

Captions and credits* For each image, you will need to provide:

Caption to briefly describe/label the image (100 words or less)

Credit to acknowledge the photographer/source (100 words or less)

Video (optional; maximum of 3)If you’d like to share video clips or reels for your project, please enter the URL. For each video, you will need to provide:

Caption to briefly describe/label the video (100 words or less)

Credit to acknowledge the creator/source (100 words or less)

Preparing your work: Round 2

Please note: Round 2 requirements apply only to those selected and notified (via email, June 2015) to continue on from Round 1.

The brief

Summarize the project brief, including key objectives and a description of the audience or market that the project is intended to reach and influence.

Address some or all of the following questions (350 words or less)*

What were the implicit/explicit goals of the project? Determined by whom?

Who is the intended audience/users?

Why would they care or need the solution? Does it even matter?

If you can, describe the issue that needed to be solved or addressed.

Provide background about the industry and/or market info (350 words or less)*
Some questions you might consider in responding:

Is it a consumer or business-to-business market?

Is it highly competitive or a new niche?

Is the sector buffeted by demographic changes or stable?

Is the work competing against similar design considerations?

Strategy and approach

Many design solutions are necessarily part of a broader strategy. This section should identify the related ideas or concepts that define the solution as well as the plans for implementation that address challenges and satisfy market demand. Please provide links to studies, reports, or reference materials if you feel they would shed additional light on the challenge.

Address some or all of the following questions (500 words or less)*

What informed how you approached the project?

What didn't you know? What did you know?

What insights or learning were imparted on the solution or approach?

Was there a deadline and/or a milestone that drove this project?

What research did you do? (250 words or less)*
Research can contribute to a design’s success at both its formative stage and in evaluation. Research undertaken to inform the design process should be discussed, as well as any research undertaken to measure effectiveness. Please describe the consequence of the research.Anecdotal evidence is just that—please don't confuse this as a “measure of effectiveness.”

Project team (200 words or less)*
What was the composition of the team, their role and involvement? List team members using the format “Title/role: First_name Last_name” (e.g., “Art director: “Sarah Smith” or “Copywriter: John Bains”).

The design solution

This section addresses your design solution and includes the opportunity to describe the challenges you faced.

Address some or all of the following questions (500 words or less)*

Describe why the design solution was appropriate to the project's objectives.

How do the design directions initially presented compare with the final results?

What design constraints were placed from the outset?

Was the design solution seen as an evolutionary change or a radical departure?

Was it met with initial objections from the client?

What challenges were inherent in the project? (350 words or less)*

Results

Tell us how your project was received by your client/users/customers; to the extent that you are able, provide data measuring the effectiveness of your design solution.

Entries will be judged for being well crafted, respectful of the intelligence and dignity of its audiences, and representative of a degree of aesthetic achievement. Although more specific metrics of effectiveness and responsibility are outlined here, the jury will be giving equally substantial weight to these judgments of good design.

Measures of effectiveness (350 words or less)*
Quantifiable results about sales, website traffic, viewers, users, and/or market share information are strongly encouraged and very important to the jury’s review process. If available, please provide metrics. Results are best when they measure change over time.

To help guide your answers in the Results section, download a sample Living Principles scorecard and describe how each of the following was affected by your project. The jury will use a similar scorecard in considering the impact of your project on the economy, people, the environment, and culture.

Economy: For your client, this could mean simply ROI, increased sales, or even money saved because of your smart solution. All are excellent outcomes.

Environment: Whether or not it was a client mandate, did you consider the environmental impact of your project? This could include energy conservation or offsets, using recycled or otherwise sustainable materials, selecting an alternate delivery mechanism that removes the need for materials (i.e., a web banner instead of a direct mail campaign), or otherwise reduces, reuses, or recycles.

Culture: Did your solution extend beyond the target audience in quantifiable ways? Did it have a quantifiable impact on the culture at large? This may mean media coverage, viral distribution, or even being admired and imitated.

Additional information (continued)

Additional information may be published if your case study is selected.

Reviews, mentions, honors by users, customers or clients (optional; 250 words or less)Provide any feedback, quotes, citations and/or URLs from users, customers, or clients. This information will be used to give the jury context about your project and may be published if your work is selected.

Anything else you’d like to share? (optional; 350 words or less)Include anything else you’d like to share with the jury! You may use this section to share project-related website URLs.

Permission to reproduce work

By submitting work to the competitions, the entrant grants AIGA the right to use accepted work for reproduction in competitions-related publications; on its website; in the ensuing exhibition of the competitions’ selections; and for educational and AIGA-related noncommercial promotional purposes.

About

The most effective design combines craft,
design thinking and passion to solve problems—both complex and simple.
Creativity, innovation, and inspiration are married with empathy, insight,
and systems thinking to achieve great results, meet clients’ objectives,
and assert design as a cultural force. “Cased: Case Studies for the AIGA Design Archives” will collect and showcase the stories behind the best
design, to demonstrate the collective success and impact of the design
profession.